CUHK
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Co-ordinated by the I·CARE Centre for Whole-person Development of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), the I·CARE Social Service Day, themed “Playing a University Student for a Day”, was held recently.  A volunteer team comprising 40 CUHK students and 20 elderly people planned and implemented the event in which 120 secondary school students were invited to gain an experience of university life.  A series of pre-event training exercises was provided for the CUHK students to strengthen their communication skills with secondary school students and with the elderly. 

In her welcoming speech, Ms. Irene Ng, Director of I·CARE Centre for Whole-person Development, expressed her appreciation of all stakeholders.  She said,　“This event aims to offer an opportunity to the people in different age groups to broaden their horizons. Through the interaction of  these people, it is hoped that an integration of the different generations will take place.  Above all, our students who volunteered to take charge of the Social Service Day have learnt how to serve and care for others, which is in line with the mission of the I·CARE Centre for Whole-person Development.” 

Activities in the event were multi-faceted.  They included a model lecture delivered by Dr. Pang Kam-moon, Senior Lecturer of the CUHK General Education Foundation Programme, who demonstrated several interesting physics experiments on “Transformers”; a group lunch at New Asia College at which they had a taste of the popular Red Bean Ice Drink at CUHK; a campus tour to enjoy the beautiful scenery, and other features.  In addition, participants also paid visits to special teaching facilities on campus, e.g. the Finance Trading Laboratory of the Department of Finance, the Hyatt Learning Centre of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, the Moot Court of the Faculty of Law, and the Satellite Remote Sensing Ground Receiving Station of the Institute of Space and Earth Information Science.  Some of the visits were accompanied by students telling about their first-hand experience of using the facilities, which enabled the participants to gain a more thorough understanding of the relevant subjects. 

The event was concluded by a closing ceremony officiated by Prof. Joyce Ma, Co-Chairman of the Steering Committee for Promoting Personal Development through Social and Civic Engagement of CUHK.  “We are pleased to have secondary school students, the elderly and the CUHK students gathered at this event.  I particularly want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the elderly who have spared time to collaborate with our students throughout the preparation of the Social Service Day.  My thanks should also go to Chow Tai Fook Charity Foundation, the sole sponsor of this event,＂said Prof. Ma.